The Christian Grinch: Now the Religious Politicals Are Out to Ruin Christmas

I enjoy the Christmas season. That's right - the Christmas Season, not the holiday season, not the winter festival, not whatever. I sing carols, put up the tree, buy presents, attend midnight church service and celebrate Christ's Birth with my family. To me, the celebration inside my home and inside my heart is the real spirit of Christmas. Outside the home, though, I can easily see how pervasive and nearly oppressive the Christmas season is, especially to a non-Christian. Every store is blaring Christmas carols, Santa is in every mall and all the TV shows are doing Christmas specials. I try to put myself in the shoes of my non-Christian friends and wonder how alienating and unpleasant this all must be. Maybe it is a relief that their holidays are not the overblown commercial extravaganzas that Christmas has turned out to be. But I'm sure that they are probably tired of having it shoved down their throats. That's why once again, I'm disgusted about the Religious Polticals latest push to put Christmas back in everything public.

Oh, they just rail on about how their children are deprived of the annual school Christmas pageant and how they can't put up a manager at the Town Hall. Of course, no one is stopping them from having those things were they belong - at church or their homes. There is not God given right that says you have to be able to put up a religious icon on the Town Hall lawn. Deliberately putting up something that will clearly alienate and insult someone is just plain ignorant. I can't understand why the message of Christ could be so lost on the Religious Politicals. Everything Jesus said is about compassion - for putting yourself in the shoes of others and treating them as you would be treated. Isn't the message of the beatitudes one of compassion to the downtrodden - a promise to reach out a hand to the less fortunate and lift them up? So what is so hard about showing compassion to those who don't share our faith?

Personally, I would like it if we could celebrate the holidays of all faiths. I would like it if it were a tradition to send Hanukkah gifts to our Jewish friends and to celebrate Ramadan. What would it hurt? It might help us understand the traditions and mindsets of peoples who affect our daily lives but we know next to nothing about. Religion should be an inclusive, joyous aspect of our selves and our lives. Instead, the Religious Politicals continue in their ways of using it to beat others down while crying about how they are the victims. They show everyday how far they are from the Christmas Spirit.